The Other Way
by SamZ
Summary: AU - After Danny turns on his parents' new ghost portal, He finds himself trapped in the Ghost Zone with no way to escape. Soon, the fight for his own survival turns into the fight for all ghosts as he becomes immersed in the Ghost Zone's culture.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, I'll give this another try. I have a lot of inspiration for this one and summer's coming up, so I think it's a good time to start a new fic! Yay! I'm really trying not to rush this like I did on my other ones, but I started right where the action started....I hope you enjoy.**

Prologue

Danny drummed his fingers quietly against the metal lab table, his other hand supporting his chin. His parents had called Jazz and him down here ages ago to show them their newest invention, the Ghost Portal they'd been working so hard on lately. However, they first had to go over every little detail to make sure everything was in perfect working order. Why he and Jazz had to be here for this, he didn't know. He shifted slightly in his chair to see if his parents were almost finished yet.

"The generator can't be over 15 degrees celsius, Jack." His mother read from the sheet of paper in her hand.

Jack looked closely at a little thermometer attached to a big hunk of metal that was apparently, the generator. "It's fine Maddie! Can't we turn it on yet?"

"Be patient Jack, we're almost finished," she looked at her list once more. "Just check the ecto-filtrator and then we can turn it on."

Danny's attention sparked at the mention of finally turning this thing on. They had been working on this since their last one in college had failed and Danny couldn't wait to see what all the fuss was about.

"Looks fine to me..." Jack said, looking closely at a tube of suspiciously glowing goop attached to the wall.

"Well okay then, I suppose we can plug it in now." She said, her excitement only now becoming present in her voice.

Danny loved when his parents finished their inventions. Inventing made them so happy and it warmed him inside to see the people he loved happy. So now, with the almost-completion of their greatest, most worked on invention ever, their happiness was so real that Danny could practically reach out his hand and touch it.

Maddie picked up one side of the cord and held it out readily.

Jack picked up the other end, almost ready to burst with excitement.

Danny sat up straighter in his chair, not taking his eyes off the gaping hole in the wall just past his parents.

Even Jazz looked slightly more interested than she should, considering her disbelief for anything her parents believed in.

Anticipation was high as they put their hands together and so plugging in their latest machine. A mechanical whirr sounded through the lab as electricity flooded into the machine, bringing it to life. They all watched, excitement at its peak until... A spark ran across the machine and fizzled out before it reached the outer edge of the octagonal portal. Nothing more.

Everyone stared expectantly for another moment while still nothing happened. The energy slowly died more and more with the seconds ticking by and still nothing happened.

Finally Jazz's voice broke through the stunned silence with a slightly smug tone. "That's what I thought"

She stood up impatient once again with her parents incompetence.

Danny had more sympathy and stayed silent. He couldn't comfort them after twenty years of hard work on their beloved machine, they failed. He just let them walk away in defeat, at a loss for words. He spun in his chair awkwardly for a few moments after they left and bit his lip.

"That would have been cool..." he mumbled to the empty lab. He stood up and approached the portal, none too carefully now that he knew it didn't work. He looked along the inside walls remembering how they looked at every stage of the process of being built. His parents would never let him help fearing either he or their portal would get hurt, but Danny had spent many hours watching his parents work diligently ever since he was a small child, putting it together piece by piece. To discover it didn't work made him a little depressed inside too.

He stepped inside the portal curiously. He had never been inside before although it didn't matter too much, as the hole in the wall was big enough to see almost everything from the outside as well as if you were in there yourself.

He turned around half way to the back of the portal to face out toward the lab. Something about this new point of view struck him as odd, like he had been missing a lot more than he'd thought by never being inside the portal. Including...

His eyes flickered to the tiny few inches of space on the inside of the door where one on the outside could not see. Blue eyes rested on the 'on' switch and with a curious grunt that echoed in the small space around him he went over to press it. Nothing would happen, of course, because the portal didn't work, but curiosity got the best of him and he walked over slowly and pushed.

Jazz, wondering what could possibly be keeping her brother in the lab so long, and worried he might be doing something dangerous or idiotic, ascended the bottom step just in time to see Danny push a button, hidden to her but obviously a button nonetheless, and, not as blind to the danger as her brother apparently was, she took a breath to stop him.

Too late.

She watched in horror as the whole world slowed down for a moment. Danny and her eyes met for a millisecond that seemed like and eternity. His confused blue met her fearful teal. His gaze was cut off when the portal came to life and power shot through the small octagonal space in the wall and continued to flow through the boy by the 'on' switch. He screamed loudly as pain coursed through his bones, his mind and every single separate strand of his DNA.

Unfortunately for the Fenton family that day, The portal couldn't handle all the power much better than Danny could and it exploded, the house shook violently, and Jazz watched the spot where her brother was, disappear behind rubble and dust. Traumatized, Jazz merely stood there staring for quite some time before her parents got there. It was only when they asked what happened to Danny that she broke down into tears, but her eyes were still glued to the demolished portal. The eldest Fentons, following her gaze, didn't need to be told.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1-

A figure stirred in the midst of metal scraps and broken wires. His white hair was singed, causing it to be less snowy than it would normally be, and there were various rips and burns on his clothing.

The boy's radioactive green eyes cracked open for a moment before he closed them again, waiting for their usual vision. He opened them again seconds later and let out a groan, closing them again when all he saw was green. Most likely a long head rush, he reasoned. He waited longer, drifting toward the more wakeful side of consciousness until he was sure nothing was wrong with his head. For a while, he just lied there, checking in with himself. He could tell his body was twisted into an odd shape, most likely similar to that of a pretzel. He wasn't horribly uncomfortable, but his awkward position brought to him to realize another unusual detail. He was not laying on his soft bed, tucked securely under the covers like he would have assumed upon waking. The surface underneath him was flat, but hard and rough, and he was aware he was cold, but somehow it didn't bother him in the least.

Curious, he slowly opened his eyes again, his numb mind not quite remembering what to expect, but when his eyes were met with green once more, he knew something wasn't right. This time, Danny realized right away that it wasn't something wrong with him, but with his surroundings. He gasped lightly at this discovery before he slowly sat up to get a closer look.

Indeed, the atmosphere around him was a constantly-in-motion, flowing green everywhere he looked, although the occasional black swirl of...Something...looped through the air, as if too much green was condensed in the same place at once. It never ended, just looked infinite; the same color that went on forever, much like the blue sky he was used to.

I took some effort on Danny's part to tear his gaze from his strange surroundings, but he finally looked down to see what he had woken up on. He was sitting directly in the middle of a circular island with what he estimated was about a ten foot radius...Although he was very bad at math. The surface was almost completely flat and clearly made of a rough, gray stone.

Beginning to feel nervous about his completely unfamiliar surroundings, he instinctively drew his legs closer to his torso. What made him most uncomfortable was that he couldn't think of any place this might be. He had no idea where one could find green air and floating islands, no less how to get home from here.

Naturally, as Danny's fear started to arise, he began to panic. He rested his face in his hands for a few moments before taking a deep breath and standing up.

Despite having just woken up, Danny felt great. He felt light on his feet, energetic and strong like he could run a marathon right now. He looked at his hands like they would give him the answer to why he felt so...Agile. Of course, no answer came to him, and because the likelihood of getting one just by staring at his hand left something to be desired, he put his newfound energy off as fear-induced adrenaline.

Suddenly, a thought struck him. One so obvious, he couldn't believe it took this long. He had no idea how he got here. It was strange that it took that long to occur to him, but now that he thought about it, if he knew how he got here, then he could use the same method to get back home. His mind still felt a little muddled, but he swept the metaphorical dust out from his brain and finally began to think about what had happened before he had woken up.

The last thing he remembered was his parents' disappointed looks. They weren't directed at him, but he couldn't remember what they were for. It was like the memory was right there! He just couldn't find it.

Blank... Blank... Blank...

Then a picture flashed across his mind. Too quick for him to grasp at first, but after a moment of effort toward, ironically, remembering his memory, he managed to chase it down. Jazz's fearful eyes staring into his own from across... The lab.

He remembered suddenly the intense pain that had struck his every nerve and looked around him again. Was this heaven? It was nothing like he'd imagined heaven would be, but maybe...

But the thought made him even more uncomfortable. If he was in heaven he would have to be dead, and he most certainly wasn't dead! And he would never be able to get back home from heaven! No, he couldn't be dead.

"Hmmm..." his voice echoed around the desolate area as he looked around for any clues, mainly trying to ignore his fear for now until he found a way out of here. Nothing but the strange floating islands as far as the eye could see.

"How am I going to get off this little island?" he wondered out loud, now taking notice of the sheer drop-off all around him. None of the other floating islands were within jumping distance.

His footsteps echoed ominously in the silence as he walked around the radius of the island, looking for something solid below him that he could possibly jump onto. Suddenly, as he looked down, something white flashed in the corner of his eye. He swung around, startled, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. He looked around suspiciously for a moment, secretly scared out of his mind, before warily settling back down to continue searching for a way to... Something. As soon as he looked back down, however, the flash came back, in the very corner of his eye. Again, he shot up and spun around, even more fearful this time. Last time, it could have been his imagination, but if that was the case, it wouldn't have happened a second time.

He stayed up watching for longer this time, too scared to look away now. He knew nothing about this strange place, including the dangers, and frankly, it was horrifying. He tried to stay brave, but really his head was starting to spin from barely hidden panic.

He sat down and scooted back into the middle of the small, floating plateau, completely alert and shaking slightly, and wrapped his arms around his knees. He knew it was hopeless for him to try and fight anything. He was such a wimp that even the bullies at school targeted him, and he could do nothing to fight back. The only thing he could do if a predator showed up was curl up and quiver with fear.

Minutes ticked by as he waited for something to happen. Unchanging stillness and silence surrounded him, and the flash had yet to come back. Gradually, his shaking stopped, and his grip on his knees loosened. Slower still, his attention span slipped and he began to grow bored. More minutes ticked by. His chin rested on his knees, and his hands subconsciously found his untied shoelaces and began fiddling with them. He looked down at them, intending to tie them, but as his head tilted down, the white appeared again in the same corner of the same eye.

This time, something about it's appearance clicked in Danny's head. That was...His hair? Every time he looked down, his hair fell in his eyes...

He suddenly laughed out loud, the relieved sound echoing off the strange floating islands around him. He felt ridiculous now that he realized what the flash was, and he was glad nobody was around to see him get scared by his own hair. Of course, in his own defense, he didn't know his hair was white, and he had no idea how it had gotten that way, but his realization that his fears were for nothing were more important to him. Still, he pulled his hair down in front of his eyes curiously to see the silvery strands.

"Weird..." He said to his empty surroundings.

He briefly wondered if heaven had mirrors, but his thought was abruptly cut off by the sound of a pebble bouncing. It was just a tiny noise, but in such a silence, it could be heard clear as a bell. A new wave of fear struck him. He didn't kick that pebble, he wasn't even moving.

"Hello?" he called softly, his irrational fear of his hair felt so ridiculous now, that he decided he'd better get over it. This was probably something equally or even more ridiculous. Maybe whoever it was could tell him how to get off this island. When no further sound reached his ears, he became uneasy. He looked around for anything, but nothing was visible from his point of view. He began to feel like he was being watched and the frantic panic from before was coming back. He quickly stumbled backward toward the closest edge of the island, intending to jump if something were to pose a threat. His 'curl up and quiver' plan was out the window now that he had gotten over his first scare. Now he felt like he could take on anything.

Except for this. He heard it before he saw it. A feral growling echoing around him. He couldn't quite pinpoint where it was coming from, but it was close. Then suddenly it appeared out of nowhere, literally. One moment it wasn't there and the next it was. A strange panther, it's body outlined in a glow as bright as it's threatening red eyes, crouched ready to pounce... On him.

His breath caught in his throat almost a scream, but he was too frightened. His knees lost their strength and he knew his 'jump off the edge' plan had already failed. His 'curl and quiver plan' was getting pretty tempting now. It briefly crossed his mind that now he definitely couldn't be dead. If he were, how could he be fearing so greatly for his life?

The glowing, black beast knew it's easy prey already had absolutely no chance, and it made that fact clear by walking almost leisurely over to him and raising one of it's massive paws, unsheathing it's abnormally sharp and long claws over his face.

Danny closed his eyes tightly, waiting for his final blow. There was nothing he could do about it now. He just expected to be finished off and eaten.

What he didn't expect though, was another fierce growl sounding from his left, sounding also with the sound of what he guessed was sharp claws scratching against the rock, followed closely by a thud that shook the whole island.

Danny dared to crack one eye open to take a look. Once he was sure the panther wasn't still right above him anymore, he opened both eyes and turned to where the racket was continuing. To his surprise, and maybe relief, there were now two animals there. The apparently hungry panther and a bigger, and even more ferocious looking wolf-like creature. The wolf had the panther pinned to the ground and though it was writhing frantically, it looked as though the wolf had it under control. He took the chance to stand up, and after only a moment of hesitation, he jumped off the closest side of the island.

"Wait!" he heard from behind him. Of course he ignored it, he wouldn't wait up for the threatening panther or the even more threatening wolf, even if he weren't falling uncontrollably. He wasn't even aware either of them could talk.

His whole mind was set on getting as far away as possible. "Fall faster!" He yelled to himself. Unfortunately, as he looked back at the island to make sure neither of the frightening creatures had followed him, he found that it wasn't disappearing nearly as fast as he had hoped. It seemed he was drifting more than he was falling.

Of course he had been so scared of jumping off and falling to his death, and now he was scared of NOT falling. "Faster!" He yelled again in his panic to get away.

And suddenly he felt himself speed up. If he didn't know any better, he would think he controlled the speed of his fall... But did he know better?

"Faster!" He sped up even more and he was suddenly sure he was in control. This speed felt like the speed normal gravity should be taking him, and he felt it was fast enough. He had no idea how this worked, but it was actually pretty cool, despite the situation. Then it occurred to him. Controlling gravity? Isn't that flying?

Unfortunately, just as the thought struck him, so did something else. Something large and glowing. He had been so distracted by the thought of flying, he didn't even notice that the wolf ghost had caught up to him until it grabbed him from behind. They quickly changed direction to the nearest island.

They dramatically slowed down as they got there and Danny noticed that the wolf's hold on him was loosening. As soon as they got there, the wolf let go of him and Danny stumbled away, weak and shaky feeling from everything happening so fast.

Danny had no idea what to do now. The wolf had caught him and let him go just like that. Was he supposed to run or what? Did the wolf want to chase it's prey first?

But Danny didn't have time for anything before the wolf pointed at himself and spoke. "Wulf." it said simply. Danny, still shaky and out of breath, just looked up at it, amazed that it could talk, and that it wasn't eating him.

It was then that Danny realized by the expectant look on it's face that the wolf wanted to know his name. "Oh..." He started, his mind still just barely comprehending this strange, frightening and unreal situation.

"I'm Danny"

About four hours after the accident, only one person was left in the lab. Jack Fenton had taken the hardest job anyone could ever do, upon himself, to spare his family the pain. He had to dig Danny out of the rubble of the destroyed portal. He had been working at it for the past half hour, and he was surprised at how easy it was to clean out. The whole portal, made up completely of heavy pieces of equipment, had collapsed, but it seemed now that there was less mass in this pile than there should have been. He was already halfway to the back of the portal; a task that should have taken him twice as long.

In fact, Jack was very surprised that he hadn't found Danny already. "He must have been in the vary back of the portal." He said to himself, his voice heavy with grief still.

He kept pulling out big pieces of metal and circuits and tangled cords, rolling the heaviest pieces onto an old skateboard and pushing them out to make it easier. His back was so sore, but he didn't even consider stopping. Instead he occupied his mind with reasons why the portal could have exploded. This could also have been to keep his mind off of the painful subject of Danny.

He talked to himself out loud as he thought of reasons. "Maybe the ecto filtrator fluid somehow ignited..." He said, rolling out an especially large scrap. "Maybe there was just a loose cord..." He added. So many things could have set off that explosion. Almost anything that wasn't exactly on the blueprints would have resulted in an explosion. There were just so many variables.

"What triggered it though? If it didn't explode when we plugged it in, it shouldn't have exploded at all..." As if on queue, the next thing he picked up from the pile of ruined portal pieces, was the green 'on' button. Horror struck him as well as a new wave of sadness when it finally became clear. "He turned it on." He walked out of the portal and gently set the 'on' button separately from the rest of the junk, like it was a relic of some sort.

"The portal just couldn't handle all the energy that went through it at once, and it collapsed. We just didn't build it strong enough." He explained to himself. He would tell Maddie later if she hadn't already figured it out, maybe after Danny's funeral. Maddie was always closer to Danny than Jack was, and Jack was always closer to Jazz.

He just walked back into the portal to haul out more rubble. He had gotten the last of the big pieces, so Danny had to be close to the surface by now. He started digging in the little pieces of wires and shards of burnt metal at the very back of the portal until he found...The floor.

Confused, he dug around, throwing the bits out of the hole in the wall that used to be the portal. He only stopped when he knew there wasn't nearly enough left on the ground to hide a body underneath. Something deep inside him sparked. Hope?

Danny had to be here. As well as some of the big pieces of the portal's walls were missing. Danny had turned on the portal a few seconds before it exploded.

"What if... The portal held up for just a split second before it collapsed and it created a doorway to the Ghost Zone? It sucked Danny in and the rest of the pieces...And Danny's still alive in the Ghost Zone!" Definitely hope!

"Maddie!" He called and launched himself up the stairs to find her.


End file.
